The Baltimore Orioles split their latest home stand 3-3 and are playing just well enough to keep their AL Wild Card playoff hopes alive.
At ( 62-65 ) they are in fourth place in the AL East 11.5 games behind the first place ( 73-53 ) Boston Red Sox.
They are also 3.5 games out of one of the AL WC spots, placing eighth out of the nine teams that have a legitimate shot at the two WC slots.
After losing two of three to the Los Angeles Angels they rebounded and took two of three from the Oakland Athletics.
The two teams split the first two games and the Birds rallied to win the series finale 8-7 behind a 12th inning walk off homer by third baseman Manny Machado, his team-leading 28th of the season.
After a slow start at the plate, Machado has really rallied in the second half and now has 84 RBIs while hitting .264.
Ahead 7-5 in the ninth, closer Zach Britton gave up two runs and saw his AL-record 60 straight saves record come to an end.
Baltimore opened the scoring in the fourth with a three-run homer by rookie Trey Mancini and an RBI single by Ryan Flaherty who was back in the lineup after an extended stay on the disabled list, giving them a 4-0 lead.
Mancini now has 22 homers and the last Oriole’s rookie to hit at least 20 was Cal Ripken Jr.
Catcher Welington Castillo clobbered a two-run homer in the sixth inning, his 14th of the season giving Baltimore a 6-1 lead.
But the pesky A’s who are ( 55-72) and 10.5 games behind in the AL WC race would not back down.
They rallied to cut the lead to 6-5 in the eighth and in the bottom half of the inning Chris Davis blasted a solo homer his 20th of the season to make the score 7-5 and setting up the exciting finish.
Orioles starter Dylan Bundy, who was given extended rest before this start, struck out eight and surrendered seven hits and three runs in six innings of work.
The hero out of the bullpen was reliever Miguel Castro who actually relieved Britton and kept the game at 7-7 in the ninth, setting up Machado’s heroic walk-off winner.
